Jumping rope is a well known cardiovascular exercise for fitness, increased endurance and improved coordination. Typically, a jump rope consists of an elongated cord extending between a pair of handles as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,978 issued Jul. 23, 2002 to Ronald D. Bouvier. In this patent the cord has a pair of end portion each connected to a handle, and an intermediate portion which is thicker than the other portions to provide a heavier intermediate portion. The exercise rope described in said patent is a variation of the conventional rope which has a uniform thickness from end to end. It is a matter of common experience, however, that jumping rope exercise using conventional ropes familiar to exercisers can cause tripping and lack of coordination thus requiring skill to prevent tripping and injury. A recent publication, i.e., Pub. No. US 2005/0266965 A1 describes an exercise device which includes a first member and a second member, both of which are made from a non-elastic material, a first handle rotatably coupled to one end of the first member, and a second handle rotatably coupled to the end of the second member. Each of the handles is slidable along its respective member between the ends of that member, with the handles remaining in slidable contact with their respective members. A handle stop is coupled to the respective ends of said members for maintaining the handles in slidable contact with each member.
Several other patents describe different types of handles for attachment to the ends of a conventional type jumping ropes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,561 issued Sep. 2, 1997 to Thomas McNamara descries a pair of weighted handles at the ends of the jump rope. Another patent, i.e., U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,624 issued Nov. 27, 1988 to Jeremy A. Grant described a jump rope with hand weight attachment, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,899 issued Jun. 10, 1986 to Robert A. Miller discloses a jump rope provided with resiliently flexible handles for changing the force exerted on the user during swinging of the ropes.
Notwithstanding the efforts of the prior art workers the conventional rope exercise method today, as in the past, involves the use of an exercise rope such as the rope described in said U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,978 B2 and variations thereof using different types of handles to facilitate the use of the rope by the user.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an exercise device using separate jump ropes, and a method of using such exercise device.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a jump rope device and a jump rope exercise method which can be used by the user without the difficulties or problems which are encountered during jump rope exercise using conventionally known jump rope devices.
It is a specific object of the present invention to provide a jump rope device and jump rope exercise method wherein the user uses a single rope in each hand, one in the right hand and another in the left hand, during the entire exercise period.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention will be more clearly understood and appreciated from the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the drawings in this application.